Sunday, August 5, 2012

Let's Talk About the End of the Performance: How Can an Ancient Drama be Associated with Christianity?

Let's talk about the end of the performance. How
can an ancient drama be associated with Christianity? I'm referring to Helen
singing St. Paul's Epistle and to the end of the performance featuring a cross,
an element that invokes Christianity.

You
have forgotten Epiphany or in other words "deus ex machina".

The
quest for God by man of all times and civilizations is a universal fundamental
phenomenon. A phenomenon with various forms and expressed in various ways. The
quest for God is part of man's effort to reach the (transcendental) existence
of God. This is certainly not a simple phenomenon and especially not an easy
one to understand.

The
vast amount of bibliography on this subject all around the world emphasizes the
composite and difficult to investigate nature of this phenomenon of man's quest
for God.

"What
is God, what not God and what is that in between them?" (verse 1137). This
is the verse that is part of the title of this present speech.

This
verse presents man's unquenchable desire for seeking out God. It also expresses
a distinctly human condition and man's tendency towards God. Meaning who is the
God we search for and which are his preceding qualities.

In the
end of the play we come across an Epiphanic appearance : Dioscuri, the
deified brothers of Helen. This appearance is neither momentary nor simple. It
contains announcements of significant developments in the life of Theoclymenus
as a leader also the lives of the rest of the parts of the play. A substantial
part of God's appearance is the dialogue between the god and the king. In this
case we have an intervention by Theoclymenus for the sake of people's salvation
(the Egyptians' and also the Greeks'- everything is part of a chain). The
irreverent has become fair. We would say that this is a divine appearance
during which the human side is not a passive receiver but, through this
opportunity, is intervening in the historical status quo.

In
this case we see a God that appears in visible and tangible conditions in order
to converse with man and make him participate drastically in formulating the
historical developments towards a positive turn. This Epiphanic dialogue is a
bright example of the search for a God who gives man the opportunity to
intervene, which opportunity can modify even the plan of God himself.

In
verses 1495-1505, the chorus implores Dioscuri for sympathy and assistance. I
believe that Euripides reveals the tendency, that people had up to that moment
to look for a god that would appear in times of "emergency". A god
that would be an impartial judge of people and would guarantee the end of every
kind of (social ) injustice. It is distinctive that the word
"justice" appears since the beginning through the end of the play at
the tomb of Proteus, the good and fair king that died and with whom justice
also died, as we mentioned in a previous chapter.

We are
looking for a buried justice. We are looking for a god that is above all a god
of justice. And let's not fool ourselves. Since then till today, isn't he the
one we are searching for?

A god
that essentially guarantees and offers justice in its purest and most genuine
form. A god that provides knowledge and wisdom. A god of mercy. A god of
freedom. A real god. This quest is bringing all humans together. We are looking
for a crucified and resurrected god. He may be walking among us, besides, he
has promised this. What we need is eyes to discover him. Eyes to see him.

Euripides
separated himself from the traditional god-centered perception of his era. For
the first time, man is the center of dramatic poetry. Anything that the hero
has to endure does not come from God. He is the only one responsible for his
actions. Euripides enters the labyrinth of the human psyche to explain that man
himself and not his fate is responsible for his life. He shows us the reasons
that lead heroes to act the way they do. He shows us their weaknesses and the
degree of influence these weaknesses have on their actions.

He was
accused of being an atheist although the totality of his works is marked by a
religiosity never seen before. Is it possible to characterize as an
atheist a poet who depicts gods showing mercy for humankind and preaching the
gospel of love? This is the new meaning that Euripides gave to the notion of
God. Isn't it a Christian meaning?

Perhaps
you will say that he propagated an antireligious propaganda. That he attacks
the oracles. Meaning that the audience at the end of the play realize
this antireligious propaganda or are they smitten by the trick of Helen and
Menelaus at the expense of Theoclymenus? Aren't they happy that two
people have managed to leave this barbaric country?

If
someone isolates some verses against the oracles and the gods he can convince
himself and others also that Euripides is propagating antireligious propaganda.
This is not a fair attitude. The poets aim was to educate through the stage ( a
philosopher through the stage) and not to have his plays read and
especially in a fragmentary way that suits our own interests. Euripides, being
a realist, knew that it is normal for man, in times of extreme sorrow and
despair, in times of misery and while believing that he suffers in vain, to
doubt and curse even gods. And that is a sign of faith. He cannot doubt if he
doesn't believe and he cannot curse god if he doesn't admit his existence. Of
course we must know that a lot of gods are not deities but the personification
of natural or psychological forces of love. passion, etc.

With
the help of the ancient drama we can have a greater bond with the immediate
reality. What the ancient tragedy aims for is to make clear that a man of this
kind or another may say or do this kind of things or he may not say and do this
kind of things.

The
most important: The hero, acquiring the knowledge of things, connects this
knowledge to the weight and the standards of the moral choices. Now the
spectator and the reader of the ancient tragedy is urged to get on the stage
and make these levels of knowledge his own by incorporating them to his life.
However, this process is dramatic. Transition from evolution to knowledge is a
drama. Why?

Because
finding the courage to overcome your illusions is a very hard thing to do. Most
people avoid carrying the cross of torment and willingly avoid the dramatic
shift = transition of the soul.